Economic Crisis

Kuwaiti Financier Found Dead

Hazem Al-Braikan was under investigation.

A Kuwaiti businessman who was under investigation for fraud by U.S. regulatory authorities was found dead Sunday in an apparent suicide. Hazem Al-Braikan, chief executive of Al-Raya Investment, partly owned by Citigroup Inc., was sued last week by the Securities and Exchange Commission and accused of improperly earning millions of dollars from trades of two American firms. "It's very sad news. This crisis has seen a lot of people in the Gulf and across the world fall from grace, and each person is different in terms of their ability to handle pressure," Mohammed Yasin, chief executive of Dubai-based investment bank Shuaa Securities, told Reuters. Although it is a major financial center, Kuwait remains the only Gulf Arab state without a stock-market regulator.